La Petanque – Mornington Peninsula

I have been eager to dine here for a while, and so jumped at the chance to celebrate a friends birthday over the Christmas period. My first attempt at booking lunch on a Saturday was not successful, however my second attempt was. The weather was perfect on Saturday 30th January. We arrived ahead of our booking so decided that a lemon, lime and bitters would be the perfect accompaniment to a game of petanque.

From the outside looking in you are greeted with country charm (think herbs, cottage garden and outdoor furniture), however once inside the restaurant you could be at any number of fine dining establishments in Melbourne. We were greeted by friendly and efficient staff and very quickly settled into a corner of the restaurant with an additional greeting from Philippe who also worked the floor during service. Once settled with chilled water, menus and wine list I was happy to sit back and peruse the extensive wine list. It was refreshing to discover the ease in which I could work through varietals, regions and countries.

The food selection was challenging as I wanted to sample more than one main. Lucky for me I was with one friend who likes to share, so we settled on the following two mains:

• Mickelham duck breast, potato forestière, green beans, almond, quince, Shoreham honey and star anise

• Port Phillip Bay snapper fillet, local tomato, artichoke, green asparagus, Mount Martha mussels beurre blanc

Both meals were sensational in terms of presentation, flavor, weight and portion. Our group also selected side dishes of Pearcedale mixed leaf salad and Boneo herbed kipfler potatoes, both were a perfect combination to the meal. We felt it appropriate to sample some of the local wineries given we were in the Mornington Peninsula wine region, and opted for ‘by the glass’ offerings rather than a bottle. The wines included a Miceli Pinot Rose, Paringa Riesling, Elgee Pinot Noir, several French whites (all very well priced) and two glasses of Beaumes de Venise (shared between the four of us).

I have to admit that I am not usually one to partake in dessert for lunch, however I did find room to share the selection of Red Hill and Imported cheeses with quince paste and lavoche – delightful! The desserts were just too tempting for my friends who sampled the following:

• Blood orange, almond and Tahiti vanilla pudding, grapefruit and yogurt sorbet, orange and liquorish jelly

• Poached Red Hill pear William with almond, hazelnut, candied fruit nougat glacé and vincotto

La Petanque is open for lunch daily and dinner Friday & Saturday. Summer holidays they are open every day for lunch & dinner, and I would strongly suggest booking in advance. I will definitely make sure that the next time I visit it is for dinner so I can soak up the night-time atmosphere and select one of the sumptuous desserts for myself!